Legacies: Why It Seems Like Hope Was Nerfed (& Why She’s Not)

Warning: Spoilers for Legacies season 4, episode 14, “The Only Way Out Is Through.” 

In Legacies season 4, episode 14, “The Only Way Out Is Through,” Hope’s inconsistent powers made it seem as though she’d been nerfed–but she wasn’t. Season 4’s story has been a bit all over the map, but the overarching threat of the season appears to be the gods, who the Super Squad will have to face at some point. That includes Hope, who is back at the Salvatore School for now. But that fight will be much harder if Hope’s powers are diminished, which they appear to be–at least on the surface.

To help game out the potential Legacies season 4 battle, Professor Vardemus had the students fight his automatons on a giant chessboard battlefield, using a magical algorithm to calculate every potential scenario. The simulations brought up some seeming inconsistencies with Hope’s powers. Some viewers online have questioned why Hope didn’t just compel the other students to keep playing when they quit in disgust, while others questioned how the human Alaric, who had just gotten out of the hospital, managed to snap Hope’s neck to give her a time-out.

Those viewers complaining that Hope has been nerfed, however, were apparently not paying attention to Hope’s internal arc in the Legacies episode. The past few episodes have hinted that Hope’s humanity is trying to turn itself back on, and “The Only Way Out Is Through” brought that to a head. Hope is now fully hallucinating visions of her better half, or the good version of Hope, who keeps pointing out what Legacies’ humanity off Hope doesn’t want to hear: she knows that her humanity has to come back on sometime. And it is. Serious cracks are starting show in Hope’s emotionless armor. She’s not mass compelling the other students or ripping their heads off for defying her because deep down she cares about them and doesn’t want to hurt them. In other words, she’s not nerfed–she’s just starting to act more like the old Hope.

Wade even unintentionally confirmed as much earlier in the Legacies episode. When drafting up student stat sheets, he told Vardemus that humanity off Hope is basically “the perfect fighter.” He made a subtle point of clarifying he was basing his stats on humanity off Hope, not old Hope; humanity off Hope is the perfect fighter because she has no morality and thus no emotional connection to anyone. Now that Hope’s humanity is starting to flicker, it’s not that she’s been nerfed or is weaker, she’s just holding back and making more compassionate choices whether she wants to or not.

It’s fair to wonder if the writers are just being inconsistent; in a way, they are. It’s a clunky bit of narrative maneuvering to get Hope to Legacies‘ plot point of saving Lizzie. But it also fits with the internal battle that’s happening inside of Hope. As the title of the Legacies episode says, the only way out is through. Sooner or later–and likely sooner, from the looks of it–Hope will have to face everything she’s done after becoming the Tribrid, from killing Landon to putting Alaric in a coma to trying to kill Lizzie. Hope, the real Hope, will inevitably be crushed by the guilt of what she’s done, proven by how she freaked out at the end of the episode and screamed at the other students to “take her out” before she gets them all killed.

Still, just because Hope’s humanity is coming back and her compassion is returning in Legacies season 4, it doesn’t mean she’s weaker. As Professor Vardemus explained, “Having the real Hope as their leader, it’s increasing each of their powers. It just might be enough.” The Super Squad would follow old Hope anywhere and they trusted her to make them better. Legacies‘ humanity off Tribrid Hope is another story. She’s not someone they can trust or depend on. While she may not hold back when fighting, that’s exactly her weakness. The real Hope knows that when she allows herself to be vulnerable and rely on her friends, it makes her even stronger. Hopefully, she figures that out before she gets another Legacies character killed.

New episodes of Legacies are released Thursdays on the CW.

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